Mesut Ozil's racism allegations made against the German football federation has been branded as “nonsense” by a former teammate.
The Arsenal man retired from international football following Germany's shock World Cup group-stage exit.
The playmaker says he was sick of what he felt was racist treatment by the German Football Federation.
Ozil was scathing of the DFB and its president Reinhard Grindel in a lengthy statement released last month - he said 'I am German when we win, an immigrant when we lose.'
Toni Kroos Kroos dismissed the claims of racism after Real Madrid's 4-2 extra-time defeat to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup.
Mesut is a deserved international and as a player he deserved a better departure," Kroos told newspaper Bild.
“The proportion that is well and properly addressed in his statement is unfortunately overshadowed by the much higher proportion of nonsense.
“The parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense," Kroos said.
“I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB does not exist.”
Kroos believes Ozil’s issues stemmed from controversial pre-World Cup photo with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which he says Ozil never explained:
“On the contrary, we are always committed to diversity and integration. Mesut was a good example, as many of our fellow players were
“Mesut was criticized for the photo and rightly so but he missed the chance to explain himself. Nevertheless, he was absolutely supported by the management and the team.
“Later he was, as others were also criticized for the performance at the World Cup. The type of criticism was certainly not always at fair but you have to go through that as a player.”
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